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General
Overview:
Volume II continues to pour out the Vampire Variations purpose of
providing great arrangements of classic Castlevania music. Volume
II is a little more varied in genre choice than volume I was,
which I thought was a necessary improvement. Fans of rock
arrangements will still enjoy this volume just as much as they
did the previous volume. I actually found myself skipping less
tracks here compared to the previous volume. Like the previous
volume, I was left satisfied with this album at the end.

Album Strengths (AKA Personal
Favs):
Track 1-1: Sinfonia del Diablo (Blood Relations of Heaven and
Earth) by AngelCityOutlaw and Chernabogue
This track served as an excellent overture for this album. And
even by itself, it's a great track creating a sense of embarking
on an adventure of the grandest scale.

Track 1-3: Richter's Graveyard Groove (Cemetery) by Mega
Beardo
Very intense, and exciting. Became extremely compelling when the
synth strings were introduced. Very gothic, dark, and
hardcore.

Track 1-4: Nosfearatu (Cross a Fear) by
AngelCityOutlaw
One of the more eclectic tracks from this album. Loved the
rock/electronic/orchestrta combo. Really worked well here.

Track 1-6: Transylvania Sound Machine (Ghost Ship Painting)
by Stemage and Chunkstyle
So damn groovy. This was my favorite track from Rondo of Blood,
and I absolutely love what was done here. It manages to improve
on the original, while retaining what made the original so good
in the first place.

Track 1-8: Phantasmal Hellfire (Wild Dance in Phantasmic
Hell) by timaeus222
That piano intro really threw me off. Thought I was going to get
something closer to the original version, or an orchestrated
arrangement. Nope, got a really intense electronic boss fight
here. The melody was intense, made even more intense with the
aggressive background synth work. Next time I fight Shaft in
Rondo of Blood, I might have this in the background.

Track 2-4: Satanic Spire by Gario
Nope, Phonetic Hero's Sonic CD remix is still the
evilest But this is still an excellent track. Loved the eerie and
creepy blend of orchestra, electronic, and chiptune. Especially
at the end when the speed changes, and everything becomes more
and more distorted. It pulls you in with how fun it sounds, and
then tries to take over your soul.

Track 2-11: Season of the Witch (Together Forever) by
Brandon Strader
I had a feeling that this was a direct sequel to Vampire's Kiss.
Sounds just as good too in terms of quality. The brass/guitar
combo sounds really good here. I almost wish this was the last
track of the volume, as it would have made an excellent outro to
this album. The voice samples were (not surprisingly) used very
well here, especially the "finish it" part.

Following the success of the first album in October 2011,
Alexandre Mourey (Chernabogue) and KNGI.org are proud to present
Vampire Variations: Volume II – a whole new tribute
album to the Castlevania series, released on October 31,
2013.

This new album focuses on two major games from Konami's series:
Rondo of Blood (PC Engine CD, 1993) and
Bloodlines (Genesis, 1994), and on the music composed by
akiropito, Keizo Nakamura, Tomoko Sano, Mikio Saito (Rondo of
Blood), and Michiru Yamane (Bloodlines).

But this time, we decided to put it to the next level: 2 albums,
more than one and a half hours of music, more than 25 musicians
and performers, and full album artwork. Everything was done by
fans, for fans, to celebrate the games' anniversary.

The project's musicians were asked to arrange the tracks the way
they wanted to, and to create their own vision of the
soundtracks. The project features several different genres,
including orchestra, metal, funk, electronic music, and many
others. In order to respect the work of the artists, no final
mixing or mastering was applied to the project.

The project's artwork was created to bring the universe of
Castlevania to life, but also to give Vampire
Variations its own visual identity. Unlike the first
project, different covers were designed for the second one to
allow listeners to chose the one they prefer.

I would like to thank all the people who made this happen, who
trusted me, and who dedicated their work for the project. I truly
hope you will enjoy this new musical experience, as much as I
enjoyed directing this project. The Dark Lord is rising once
again. Hold your crucifixes close. What an horrible night to be
cursed once more...

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